In general, dock seals and shelters prevent the ingress of outdoor environmental conditions or contaminants (e.g., rain, snow, wind, hot/cold temperatures, insects, animals, etc.) into the interior of a building (e.g., the dock area) and/or cargo area of a vehicle during the loading or unloading of the vehicle. Dock shelters and seals may also prevent the egress of conditioned air from within a building and/or a vehicle cargo area to the outdoor environment. In some instances, vehicles (e.g., the trailer or rear portion of a truck) may not be sufficiently centered relative to dock seals or shelters when backed into the seal or shelter to isolate the interior space of a building and adjacent vehicle cargo area from the outdoor environment. As a result, some dock seals and shelters compensate for some range of off-center vehicle positions within which the functionality of the seal or shelter is not compromised. Further, some structures of a seal or shelter, particularly side members, are capable of recovering from repeated impacts from the rear portions of off-center vehicles without sustaining substantial permanent deformation.